West Corporation: Work from Home as a Customer Service Representative

West Corporation, like LiveOps, is a company that hires customer service or virtual agents to work from home answering lines for their many clients. Similar to LiveOps, West has clients that have products you find on infomercials or on those home-shopping networks like HSN. West is located in Omaha, Nebraska and, unlike LiveOps, actually has in-house customer service agents as well as virtual agents. I worked for West for a couple of years. The company is a good starting place for anyone seeking to work from home as a customer service agent. The company has a number of agent assistants known as PALS who help, or are suppose to help, the home agents with any questions they may have about calls and work issues. The company has a number of different contact information for you to call concerning any issues you may have, which is helpful.

The company offers a lot of helpful information online. When you apply, there is a background check you have to pass because, again, you will be taking personal information from people who are purchasing products. However unlike LiveOps, West pays for the background check. West also provides training for you to work for their clients. Their training is more challenging than LiveOps. There are simulations and tests to take and if you don't pass you are not able to work that line or client. The calls are similar to LiveOps you are given scripts and are required to say them word for word. The pay is per minute per call but it is less than LiveOps at only .17 cent per minute per call. However, during their busier time, which is the Christmas season, the pay increases and can go up to .30 cent per minute per call.

West pays by direct deposit (or mail) every other Friday. I never had any delays or problems with my paycheck, although there could be others that have. There are links on their website that you can check how many hours and your pay for the week or pay period. Overall, West is a good place to start when looking for a work at home job. The biggest downfall is the lack of calls after the Christmas season and some other work issues like call times with certain clients, and PAL issues. After the Christmas season, you will be doing good to make $100 a week, if that. In order to make a decent part-time income, you will need to be trained and working for their several clients. One of the biggest differences between West and LiveOps is that with LiveOps you can continue to make a decent income throughout the year, if you log in when you are scheduled to work, but with West the well runs low throughout the year except during the Christmas season.

I often tell people that it is pretty much necessary to have more than one work at home job unless you work from home with a company you worked with on-site and it's full-time. Many of these work at home jobs are part-time and inconsistent. If you are looking for full-time or even steady work, you need more than one work at home job. If you get hired with West be sure to keep looking for additional work. And by the way, you can work West and LiveOps at the same time. Like LiveOps, you will need a second phone line with no options, meaning no call waiting, and you will need high-speed Internet access. You will also need a quiet working environment.